The Biff's a threat

By Monte Dutton

Published: Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 11:28 AM.

Biffle just doesn’t have a gimmick. God love him for that.

He can’t cut a back flip and, to his credit, doesn’t want to. If he grew a mustache, people would say, “I’ll be dogged. Greg Biffle’s got a mustache.” In Jeff Gordon’s case, they investigate it and speculate as to which form it will take.

He’s just “the Biff,” man. That ought to be enough. If there’s any justice, he’ll win one of these championships before he’s through.

JOLIET, Ill. – The Chase for the Sprint Cup is on, and Greg Biffle is being overlooked.

Why? Because Biffle (a.) isn’t growing a ceremonial mustache; (b.) doesn’t have a girlfriend pregnant with his love child; (c.) isn’t about to fire his crew chief; (d.) doesn’t love a microphone better than a steering wheel; (e.) doesn’t have a wacky sense of humor; (f.) didn’t have a famous father; (g.) isn’t bolting his present team at year’s end; (h.) doesn’t like to stir up trouble; and (i.) doesn’t have looks to make the pretty girls swoon.

Biffle is just a darn good driver, one that draws all those hackneyed descriptions as he walks through the garage area. He’s “a hot shoe.” He’s “a driver’s driver.” He’s “a wheel man.”

At age 42, he’s only been around for 356 Sprint Cup races. Jeff Gordon, a year younger, has run 679. If the late Benny Parsons hadn’t seen Biffle run a short track and told Jack Roush he ought to take notice, Biffle might still be collecting trophies in the Great Northwest. He came along the way NASCAR drivers used to. He made a name for himself out in the sticks, graduated to the big time in his 30s and attained modest celebrity not because he could turn a phrase or make a commercial but because, to echo Barney Hall, he could “drive the wheels off that thing.”

Biffle has more in common with Harry Gant than anyone else racing now, so no one pays attention. Like Gant, Biffle doesn’t lose any sleep over it.

If no one sought out Brad Keselowski, a consultant would be hired. (No danger of that, by the way.) If no one seeks out Biffle, he just says, “Oh, well …”

If the people who write about this sport, and talk about it, and bring it to the public in that pantheon of different technologically advanced ways, wanted to really know what makes it tick, they’d talk to Biffle a lot more often because he truthfully answers every question put forth.

Biffle just doesn’t have a gimmick. God love him for that.

He can’t cut a back flip and, to his credit, doesn’t want to. If he grew a mustache, people would say, “I’ll be dogged. Greg Biffle’s got a mustache.” In Jeff Gordon’s case, they investigate it and speculate as to which form it will take.

He’s just “the Biff,” man. That ought to be enough. If there’s any justice, he’ll win one of these championships before he’s through.